ANTHENORA – The Last Command

The Italian Heavy / Power Metal band, Anthenora, are alive and well and currently working on a new album. In the meantime, the guys were very kind to share their two earlier albums to allow you, the Metal fans, to capture the Iron Maiden-ish, Judas Priest-ish, Saxon-ish and Helloween-ish like spirit that surrounded Anthenora’s early releases.

This review is the first part of two, which will focus on the band’s two albums that ranged from 2004-2006. The purpose of these reviews is to give you an idea who this Italian group is and for you to develop new expectations regarding their new stuff.

Anthenora’s debut album, under their new (back then) label Locomotive Music Records, The Last Command, was the band’s first official outcome after their 2002 EP, The General’s Awakening. Mad Fonto from the late Power Metal band, White Skull, handled this debut and his work on it deserves high praises. Fonto insured that Anthenora would be engulfed by the magic sounds and moments of the 1980s and that can’t be bad, can it?

The album, in general, is a great 1980’s influenced Heavy / Power Metal album with great riffs and melodies that spot the ultimate mixture of British and German Metal music with bits of the up to date sound of today’s Heavy / Power Metal. The Italian Heavy Metal groups, particularly, in comparison to the Germans and British, have been perfecting their Heavy / Power Metal routine with superiority by writing in the spirit of the two enormous scenes mentioned. Their motivation helped them forge several amazing works that enabled them to win a strong posture in the worldwide Metal scene as a skilled Metallic nation.

The Last Command is a concept album, which was divided into two halves. The first half tells the story of a darkened near future of war and chaos and the second one’s stage is set on the grounds of damaged Europe under the effects of World War II. Actually, the band’s first EP, The General’s Awakening is The Last Command’s prologue chapter so you might want to take a listen to that early work as well. This type of concept writing was also presented in the band’s second release, Soulgrinder, two years after. However, Soulgrinder will be left to the second part and will get its own review.

Above the written material, there are the performers / creators. The band, as a group is magnificent, however, the main concern is with the band’s lead vocal man, Luigi Bonansea. Luigi is a gifted frontman who shows why Anthenora performed well as an Iron Maiden tribute outfit. Nonetheless, with all his talents, he has some major issues with his accent that affects his English. On most of the songs, except for a few of the choruses, there is trouble on making out what he is trying to say. This problem is aching because the music is great and it fits well with his voice.

Behind the voice, Anthenora’s material on the album will not crazily overwhelm, other than several occasions, because of the fact that despite great moments among songs such as “Foreteller”, “Machines Of War” and “The Fortress”, they seemed to get stuck with no direction and therefore they become slightly dull. However,hits such as the bone breaking “The Last Command”, the unmerciful “The Hunter” who is bound to take your life, “General K”, “The Legion” and the hymn of darkness which is the “Dark Alliance”, will tear you apart with a classic Metal vs. Power Metal – a true battle to the death. In addition, the track “The Fortress” lasts for 13 minutes nevertheless it’s not that accurate. After the mentioned track ends, about 5-6 minutes, you will find that Anthenora gave you a small treat – the track, “The Savior”, taken from the band’s earlier EP – quite an enjoyable one and most recommended.

After The Last Command, the year 2006 presented Anthenora’s second album, Soulgrinder, which will get its share of discussion in the forthcoming second part of this review. Be sure to check it out!

Here is another opinion regarding the album: 2nd Review